SUPERSTITION

I think superstition is one of the products of a culture. Another one is tradition. We learn many various feelings and the thinking through them. Knowing them is a very important thing to understand the culture. In Japan there are many traditions and superstitions about flowers.

Tradition is used when people celebrate something. One example of a tradition is the bouquet. People believe a woman is going to get married next when she catches a bouquet at a wedding ceremony. Actually, it never happens, but women believe this and try to get it first. Tradition is something that has been believed for a long time. It is regarded as a symbol of goodness or happiness.

The opposite story is the chrysanthemum. You must not take this flower to visit sick people or ill in hospital. If you did this, you would be regarded as a person who wants him or her to die. That’s because it is used for the funeral or for a grave. Superstition is represents something bad or taboo.

Nowadays superstitions are nonsense. They are not logical and scientific. But we shouldn’t laugh at it. We have to learn what our ancestors were thinking. This is helpful to comprehend a culture.